This invention relates to the problem of nailing corrugated tin panels, sheets or sheathing to roofs, walls or other surfaces which are to be sheathed or covered thereby. Since the enemy of tin is wind, the panels, sheets or sheathings must be firmly nailed to the supporting surface, whether it be an underlying roof construction, vertical wall construction or other structure.
Corrugated tin, like other corrugated sheet material (steel or plastic) has, with respect to the side to which a nail is applied (and the underside thereof), spaced apart hill portions separated by valley portions. The hill portions run substantially parallel to one another as do the valley portions with respect to themselves. Nailing tin sheeting to a surface tends to flatten the hill portions and extend the length of the sheet. When tin is nailed to a surface, the carpenter or roofer applying the nail attempts to start the nail through the very top of a hill portion. Such top is rounded, smooth and may be oily or wet or both. It is only too easy for the operator to smash his fingers or have the nail point slip down the side of the hill portion into a valley next thereto.
Further, when one sheet of tin is lapped at its edge over the edge of another sheet, driving a nail through the doubled corrugation hill portions is twice as difficult, with the two overlapped sheet portions moving with respect to one another due to the nail shock and hammering vibrations. Thus, a device to aid the nailing of corrugated tin sheets to speed up the process and protect the user's fingers, as well as make uniform the point of impact of the nail with respect to the hill portions of the corrugations, is badly needed. Yet further, it is best if the nail is not driven perfectly vertically through the corrugation. That is, it would be best to have a small driving angle from vertical, such as approximately 6.degree., which will pull the tin sheeting flat to the roof and make a more secure attachment. Trying to provide such an angled driving path without the subject device increases the difficulty of nailing.